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Positivity of Canonical Basis Multiplication in Modified Quantum Groups

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Abstract

We prove the multiplication part of Lusztig’s positivity conjecture for symmetric Cartan data.

Introduction

Lusztig constructed the canonical basis of a half of a quantum group in finite type A,D,EA,D,E by comparing the bases of Poincaré–Birkhoff–Witt type attached to reduced expressions of the longest Weyl group element [14]. His geometric construction used intersection cohomology on varieties of quiver representations. In [15] he used induction and restriction of equivariant sheaves to construct the basis for arbitrary symmetric Cartan data. In that construction, the coefficients of multiplication and twisted comultiplication record the multiplicities of shifted simple perverse sheaves. Consequently they are Laurent polynomials with nonnegative integer coefficients [15 11.5]. Kashiwara constructed global crystal bases using the crystal at parameter zero and its lift to the quantum group [11]. Grojnowski and Lusztig compared the global and geometric bases in symmetric type [9].

The two halves act together on integrable weight modules. In finite type AA, Beilinson, Lusztig and MacPherson obtained an idempotented algebra from the stabilization of convolution algebras of pairs of partial flags [1]. Lusztig constructed the canonical basis of the modified quantum group in general by studying tensor products of a simple integrable lowest-weight module and a simple integrable highest-weight module [16]. The quasi-RR-matrix defines a bar on such a tensor product, and the canonical vectors are its fixed lifts of ordinary tensors of canonical vectors. When both dominant weight parameters increase with their difference fixed, the surviving canonical vectors give compatible labels for a basis of the corresponding right weight column of the modified algebra.

In [16 §11] Lusztig asked whether the multiplication and comultiplication coefficients for this basis have the same positivity as those of the half algebra. The question appears as Conjecture 25.4.2 in [17]. Write vv for the indeterminate, U˙\dot{U} for the modified quantum group over Q(v)\mathbb{Q}(v), and B˙\dot{B} for its canonical basis. The modification uses mutually orthogonal idempotents 1ν1_\nu indexed by weights ν\nu. The column U˙1ν\dot{U}1_\nu consists of elements with right weight ν\nu. The conjecture asserts that multiplication in B˙\dot{B} and every weight component of the modified comultiplication have coefficients in N[v,v−1]\mathbb{N}[v,v^{-1}], the Laurent polynomials with nonnegative integer coefficients.

The flag realization supplies geometric models for multiplication in type AA. In affine type AA, Schiffmann and Vasserot established compatibility of the canonical basis with the geometric bases in affine Schur algebras [20]. Fu and Shoji used the affine Schur algebras and the positive half of a larger affine quantum group to prove multiplication positivity in the original modified algebra [8]. Fan and Li proved positivity for its modified comultiplication [7].

A categorical approach begins with the quiver Hecke algebras of Khovanov and Lauda and Rouquier [12, 19]. For geometric parameters in characteristic zero, Varagnolo and Vasserot identified the classes of normalized indecomposable projectives with the half-algebra canonical basis [21]. Induction makes the product coefficients graded direct-summand multiplicities. For the modified algebra, Li constructed a geometric realization using double-framed quivers and formulated the identification of its geometric labels with the canonical basis as a separate conjecture [13 Conjecture 6.11].

The diagrammatic category of the modified algebra also has an indecomposable basis. Webster identified it with Lusztig’s basis for finite type AA, DD, EE and obtained multiplication positivity in those types [22 Corollary B and Corollary 8.10]. For arbitrary symmetric Cartan matrices his tensor-product identification applies to tensor products of highest-weight modules [22 Theorem 8.7]. The finite-type identification of the modified basis uses the longest Weyl group element to pass from lowest–highest tensor products to that setting.

Fang and Lan used framed diagrams to recover tensor-product canonical bases of highest-weight modules from the canonical basis for a larger quantum group [6]. Fang and He adjoin one framing vertex at each original vertex and realize the canonical bases of lowest–highest Demazure tensor subspaces using the canonical basis of the negative half of the enlarged quantum group [5 Theorems 3.5 and 3.7]. They use this realization to prove the comultiplication part of the conjecture and the related positivity of the bilinear form for every symmetric Cartan datum. Their multiplication theorem applies when one factor belongs to a parabolic subalgebra with a finite-type positive part, or to its image under exchange of the two halves [5 Theorem 6.6].

Theorem 1.1. Let U˙\dot{U} be associated with a symmetric Cartan datum and any root datum of that type. For b,b′∈B˙b,b' \in\dot{B}, the coefficients of the finite product expansion satisfy

bb′=∑c∈B˙mb,b′c(v)c,mb,b′c(v)∈N[v,v−1].bb'=\sum_{c\in\dot{B}}m^c_{b,b'}(v)c,\qquad m^c_{b,b'}(v)\in\mathbb{N}[v,v^{-1}].

Corollary 1.2. Lusztig’s Conjecture 25.4.2 holds for every symmetric Cartan datum and every root datum of that type.

Proof. Theorem 1.1 gives multiplication positivity. Fang and He’s comultiplication theorem gives the other assertion for the same Cartan and root data [5 Theorem 6.3 and §6.6]. □

For a given simple root, the raising functor acts at the Demazure stages where that root is a left descent. These stages are cofinal in Bruhat order. We construct the functor on a quotient by an ideal of morphisms at each such stage and prove compatibility with transition functors. This gives the action of the full diagrammatic quantum group on the colimit. Specializing the symmetric dot polynomials on the framing strands identifies the Hom spaces in its positive-word corner with cyclotomic Hom spaces. This identification gives full evaluation, so an indecomposable in the diagrammatic category evaluates to a single shifted canonical label or to zero. The fixed-weight-difference comparison with Lusztig’s tensor bases then identifies the diagrammatic basis in every right column.

Weights and quiver Hecke categories

Let II be a finite set and A=(aij)i,j∈IA=(a_{ij})_{i,j\in I} a symmetric generalized Cartan matrix, so aii=2a_{ii}=2 and aija_{ij} is a nonpositive integer for i≠ji\ne j. A root datum has a weight lattice XX, its dual lattice Y=Hom⁡(X,Z)Y=\operatorname{Hom}(X,\mathbb{Z}), and simple roots αi∈X\alpha_i\in X and coroots hi∈Yh_i\in Y with ⟨hi,αj⟩=aij\langle h_i,\alpha_j\rangle=a_{ij}. Here ⟨ , ⟩\langle\ ,\ \rangle is the evaluation pairing. A weight is dominant if all its simple-coroot pairings are nonnegative. We use the Bruhat order on the Weyl group WW with simple reflections si(λ)=λ−⟨hi,λ⟩αis_i(\lambda)=\lambda-\langle h_i,\lambda\rangle\alpha_i. In this order w≤v0w\le v_0 means that a reduced expression for v0v_0 contains a reduced expression for ww as a subword.

Set A=Z[v,v−1]\mathcal{A}=\mathbb{Z}[v,v^{-1}]. For an integer hh put

[h]=vh−v−hv−v−1,[a]!=∏r=1a[r](a≥0).[h]=\frac{v^h-v^{-h}}{v-v^{-1}},\qquad[a]!=\prod_{r=1}^{a}[r]\quad(a\ge0).

The empty product is 1. Let f\mathfrak{f} be the negative-half algebra over Q(v)\mathbb{Q}(v), with generators θi\theta_i and the quantum Serre relations

∑r=01−aij(−1)rθi(r)θjθi(1−aij−r)=0(i≠j),θi(r)=θir[r]!.\sum_{r=0}^{1-a_{ij}}(-1)^r\theta_i^{(r)}\theta_j\theta_i^{(1-a_{ij}-r)}=0\quad(i\ne j),\qquad\theta_i^{(r)}=\frac{\theta_i^r}{[r]!}.

Its integral form Af\mathcal{A}\mathfrak{f} is generated by the divided powers. Write B\mathbf{B} for Lusztig’s canonical basis of this form. The positive and negative halves U+U^+ and U−U^- of the quantum group are copies of f\mathfrak{f}, with generators EiE_i and FiF_i, respectively. For y∈fy\in\mathfrak{f}, y−y^- denotes its image in U−U^-. The idempotent 1ν1_\nu on a weight module projects onto weight ν\nu. The modified algebra is the direct sum of the spaces 1μU˙1ν1_\mu\dot{U}1_\nu with orthogonal weight idempotents 1μ1_\mu. Its integral form AU˙\mathcal{A}\dot{U} is generated by the weight idempotents and divided powers Ei(a)=Eia/[a]!E_i^{(a)}=E_i^a/[a]! and Fi(a)=Fia/[a]!F_i^{(a)} = F_i^a/[a]! for a≥0a \ge0. The generators Ei,FiE_i,F_i change weight by αi,−αi\alpha_i,-\alpha_i, respectively. We use the convention

(EiFj−FjEi)1ν=δij[⟨hi,ν⟩]1ν.(E_iF_j-F_jE_i)1_\nu=\delta_{ij}[\langle h_i,\nu\rangle]1_\nu.

We use the free abelian group on the root symbols αi\alpha_i to record formal degrees, even if their images in XX are dependent. The degrees of Ei,FiE_i,F_i in this group are αi,−αi\alpha_i,-\alpha_i. For a homogeneous element y∈fy \in\mathfrak{f}, its content ∣y∣|y| is the negative of the formal degree of y−y^{-}, so ∣θi∣=αi|\theta_i|=\alpha_i and content is additive under products. We use the same convention for the enlarged set of root symbols below.

Framing and a fixed right weight

Adjoin I′={i′:i∈I}I'=\{i':i\in I\}. Each i′i' is joined by a single edge to ii, and there are no edges among the primed vertices. For n=∣I∣n=|I| the enlarged matrix and the chosen weight lattice are

A~=(A−In−In2In),P=ZI⊔I′.\widetilde{A}=\begin{pmatrix}A&-I_n\\-I_n&2I_n\end{pmatrix},\qquad P=\mathbb{Z}^{I\sqcup I'}.

The simple coroots on PP are the coordinate functions and the simple roots are the columns of A~\widetilde{A}. Using the lower-right block 2In2I_n, we obtain det⁡A~=2ndet⁡(A−12In)=det⁡(2A−In)≡1(mod2)\det\widetilde{A}=2^n\det(A-\frac{1}{2}I_n)=\det(2A-I_n)\equiv1\pmod2. Thus the simple roots are independent, and we identify the formal root group with their integral span in PP. The symmetric rational form on PP with matrix A~−1\widetilde{A}^{-1} has (αi,ν)=⟨hi,ν⟩(\alpha_i,\nu)=\langle h_i,\nu\rangle for all vertices. We first prove the theorem for the datum with weight lattice PP and simple roots and coroots indexed by II.

Write f~\widetilde{\mathfrak f} and B~\widetilde{\mathbf B} for the enlarged half and its canonical basis. Fix a right weight ζ∈P\zeta\in P. For a vector m=(mi)i∈Im=(m_i)_{i\in I} of nonnegative integers define

θm=∏i∈Iθi′(mi),γm=∑i∈Imiαi′,ηm=(0,m)∈P.\theta_m=\prod_{i\in I}\theta_{i'}^{(m_i)},\qquad\gamma_m=\sum_{i\in I}m_i\alpha_{i'},\qquad\eta_m=(0,m)\in P.

The factors in θm\theta_m commute. Choose mi≥max⁡(0,⟨hi,ζ⟩)m_i\ge\max(0,\langle h_i,\zeta\rangle) for each i∈Ii\in I. The weights λ2=−γm\lambda_2=-\gamma_m and λ1=−ζ−γm\lambda_1=-\zeta-\gamma_m are dominant for II, with simple-coroot pairings mim_i and mi−⟨hi,ζ⟩m_i-\langle h_i,\zeta\rangle, respectively, and satisfy λ2−λ1=ζ\lambda_2-\lambda_1=\zeta. For w∈Ww\in W put μw=−wλ1\mu_w=-w\lambda_1. The subspace used for the thickening is

Fm=fθmf⊆f~,F_m=\mathfrak f\theta_m\mathfrak f\subseteq\widetilde{\mathfrak f},

where the right side denotes the linear span of the indicated products.

Geometric projectives

References

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